is
old age, too late to be either brilliant or useful, Cobbett got into
Parliament, being returned in 1832 (thanks to the Reform Bill) member
for Oldham. He died at his house near Farnham, in 1835. Cobbett was an
egotist, it must be allowed, and a violent-tempered, vindictive man; but
his honesty, his love of truth and liberty, few who are not blinded by
party opinion can doubt. His writings are remarkable for vigorous and
racy Saxon, as full of vituperation as Rabelais's, and as terse and
simple as Swift's.

Mr. Grant, in his pleasant book, "Random Recollections of the House of
Commons," written _circa_ 1834, gives us an elaborate full-length
portrait of old Cobbett. He was, he says, not less than six feet high,
and broad and athletic in proportion. His hair was silver-white, his
complexion ruddy as a farmer's. Till his small eyes sparkled with
laughter, he looked a mere dull-pated clodpole. His dress was a light,
loose, grey tail-coat, a white waistcoat, and sandy kerseymere breeches,
and he usually walked about the House with both his hands plunged into
his breeches pockets. He had an eccentric, half-malicious way of
sometimes suddenly shifting his seat, and on one important night, big
with the fate of Peel's Administration, deliberately anchored down in
the very centre of the disgusted Tories and at the very back of Sir
Robert's bench, to the infinite annoyance of the somewhat supercilious
party.

We next penetrate into Gough Square, in search of the great
lexicographer.

As far as can be ascertained from Boswell, Dr. Johnson resided at Gough
Square from 1748 to 1758, an eventful period of his life, and one of
struggle, pain, and difficulty. In this gloomy side square near Fleet
Street, he achieved many results and abandoned many hopes. Here he
nursed his hypochondria--the nightmare of his life--and sought the only
true relief in hard work. Here he toiled over books, drudging for Cave
and Dodsley. Here he commenced both the _Rambler_ and the _Idler_, and
formed his acquaintance with Bennet Langton. Here his wife died, and
left him more than ever a prey to his natural melancholy; and here he
toiled on his great work, the Dictionary, in which he and six amanuenses
effected what it took all the French Academicians to perform for their
language.

A short epitome of what this great man accomplished while in Gough
Square will clearly recall to our readers his way of life while in that
locality. In 1749, Johnson form